Tyra has mooshy poops

[Shaykeija]

When we get Tyra she had been for ProPlan for 6 years. We have put her on Dick Van Patton Duck and Potato. Some times she gets the runs other times just really soft. I was thinking of putting her on the pro plan again. Any suggestions....It's back to chicken and rice for a bit. How much pumpkin would you put in her food? Thanks

[Prin]

Cut down on the food a bit. Are you feeding the same amount you were feeding of the Proplan? If you feed too much of a commercial food, your dog gets fat but the stool stays firm (thanks to the stool hardeners in the food). If you feed too much of a holistic food, your dog doesn't get as fat, but the stools get softer...

I suggest cutting back 1/8 cup and seeing what happens. Give it a few days and then chop another 1/8th off. Don't cut too quickly or your doggy will be hungry.

[technodoll]

How much pumpkin would you put in her food

start with one small tablespoon per meal and see how that goes... pumpkin works well to firm up loose stools BUT also loosens constipation. the miracles of mother nature, eh?

[dogmelissa]

Can I feed my cat pumpkin? He eats just about everything--I used to feed him green pepper, that was his favorite. See my new thread; http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=28986

Thanks!
Melissa

[Prin]

Pumkin is only for pets who don't have a good reason to be having diarrhea... I mean, if your cat killed or ate a bird, chances are that could have something to do with it and in that case, you don't want to constipate the animal by giving pumpkin when the animal is trying to flush itself out.

[Shaykeija]

Poor Tyra her bum has been getting a real work out. We tried the rice and chicken....Pooperville. tried putting her back on pro plan..explosive slimy stinky . So now she is on flag again and a prescription diet from the vet. pooper was working better tonight, you could almost recognize what it was coming out of her instead of the alien stuff. People are going to think i am dating the vet we have been there so much since Sophie died. It's like the little 's know when payday is lol. i think since June our vet bills have been over $2000.00 . Oh well that goes with having pets, so we eat hot dogs this week. . Tyra is a hoot though. She has to be the clumsiest Shih Tzu in the world. She tried going down our stairs and skated all the way down on her face. Scared the beejesus out of me. Then she was laying on the couch and rolled off and landed on her back. Knocked the wind out of her, darn near had a heart attack on that one. So now we have cushions beside the couch when she is on there. Man I am turning grey over this little love-bug.

[rainbow]

Don't put her back on the Pro Plan. Have you tried anything else besides the DVP duck and potato? Maybe the duck is too rich for her. What about Solid Gold Wee Bits?

People are going to think i am dating the vet we have been there so much

LOL...I know what you mean. I wish I had married one.

[Shaykeija]

Tyra is feeling much better. pooper is back to normal. Turns our she has a sensitive tummy. No duck for her anymore. We are going to try fish based food.

[Dog Dancer]

Good luck with the new food. We use Go Natural Salmon and Oatmeal and it has helped a lot with our dogs food allergies and soft stool. And yes, like Prin said, too much holistic food can cause the runs. Go figure! I also have fed my girl pumpkin for runny stool. It helps amazingly. Wish I'd heard about it long before. Now she eats it because she loves it. I give her one tablespoon with each meal, but she's 70 lbs.

[lewisw]

Originally Posted by technodoll

start with one small tablespoon per meal and see how that goes... pumpkin works well to firm up loose stools BUT also loosens constipation. the miracles of mother nature, eh?

Hi Technodoll,
When you say pumkin what do you mean ?
What kind ?
I would like to try that with Dani as she is still on medi-cal gastro and after 4 vet doctor visits still no clue as to why she has chronic diarea . The latest doctor explained to me the two parts of the bowel . One part forms the poo shape and the other I don;t remember but he said Dani's bowel can be immature and too fast and maybe in time it will get better.

Let's put it to you this way my wife can not walk Dani cause she gets the heaves if Dani poo's and she has to clean up so I do all the walking.

Her spirits are fantastic as we go to the centennial dog run every day and she runs like crazy and is loved by all the dogs there.

All the best,
Lewis

[phoenix]

Lewis;
It's canned pumpkin- in the grocery store you can find it. make sure it is PURE pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.

I freeze it in tablespoon-size balls and keep in the freezer in case of need.

[lewisw]

Thanks Phoenix I will go buy it tomorrow.

Someone at the dog run tonight told me to change Dani from medi-cal gastro mix to the fibre mix and she will get harder poops.

To me this does NOT make sense as I would think adding fibre will give her worse diarea .

What do you think ?

[Prin]

There are fast fibers and slow fibers. Things like tomato pomace and beet pulp slow things down, while corn and oats speed things up. Medi-cal has a lot of corn but probably has beet pulp too, so I'm not sure what effect it would have (it would depend on the fiber proportions...).

[lewisw]

Prin,
I was hoping you would reply

This is there ingredient listings.



Is it worth a try or is another visit to the vet in order ?

Best,
Lewis

[Prin]

That's the medi-cal? It's hard to say because the ingredients aren't in the right order.

ooo wait! If constipation (or something close to it) is what we want, try Evo! Or Barking at the Moon. The high protein foods tend to be lacking in fast fibers (no grains) and can constipate a doggy. Maybe that's what she needs?

Evo: http://www.naturapet.com/display.php...D%271246%27%5D
Barking at the moon: http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...id=81&code=120
(The solid gold one has more fiber, so you might want to try evo first.)

[lewisw]

Prin,
that is super advice.
Should mix it in with the gastromix ?

Lewis

[Prin]

Yeah, maybe try introducing a few and see how it goes and gradually up it if it's looking good...

[lewisw]

I know you like Woofers I live down the street from them do you know if they carry EVO ?

Lewis

[Prin]

Probably. They have a lot of Innova stuff there. I've never looked for evo specifically, but if they have the basic Innova foods, they should have evo (it's probably their most known formula).

[Shaykeija]

Took Trya for a walk this afternoon. Slimy poop is back. She is on ID from the vet. So now she has to go back on Wednesday to have a poop analysis done. I can't figure what is going on with her little tummy. She does not get into anything and I make sure Piper is fed on the table no so she can't get Piper's food. this is driving me nuts.

[lewisw]

Never thought I would see the day but after seeing the vet on Thursday and he suggested for 7 days to try a HIGH fibre diet before doing any invasive tests or blood workups Dani has had solid poops ever since.

I still remember Friday morning walking her and dreading the poop cleanup time BUT I almosy yelled in joy at 5:30am on my neighbors lawn when I look down and saw Dani had made SOLID PICKUPABLE poops

So now the resolutiion is medi-cal High Fibre diet for her .

Best,
Lewis

[coppperbelle]

Originally Posted by Shaykeija

Took Trya for a walk this afternoon. Slimy poop is back. She is on ID from the vet. So now she has to go back on Wednesday to have a poop analysis done. I can't figure what is going on with her little tummy. She does not get into anything and I make sure Piper is fed on the table no so she can't get Piper's food. this is driving me nuts.

Has the vet checked her poop for Giardia? Apparently this is not checked regularly and is often the culprit. You may have to ask your vet to specifically check for it.

[Shaykeija]

Well tonight was literally the ****s, Tyra will be going into the net tomorrow morning. Her poop has started to solid up BUT..there was blood in in. CRAP CRAP CRAP Looks like what Missie had a few weeks ago minus the high fever and vomiting. She is eating and drinking well. I forcastanothe $200 vet bill tomorrow.

[Shaykeija]

Well went to the vet. He thinks Tyra has a food allergy. So another expensive bag of food for her. I cannot believe that this is the problem. She never had allergies before. So another 1 week of antibiotics and we shall see what happens.

[Prin]

Good luck! I hope you can resolve this soon.

[Shaykeija]

Tyra has never been on Program before. Anyone think this could be the problem? The poops started after we started her on this. Any thoughts?

[Prin]

Maybe.. Could be a reaction... Could have just compromised her immune system when she was already fragile too...

[dogmelissa]

Originally Posted by Shaykeija

Well went to the vet. He thinks Tyra has a food allergy. So another expensive bag of food for her. I cannot believe that this is the problem. She never had allergies before. So another 1 week of antibiotics and we shall see what happens.

My dog has food allergies, too, and trust me, it's not a huge issue. Better than them being sick with something that requires constant medical attention, like diabetes or epilepsy.

What kind of food is Tyra on? Is it a vet food?
What kind of antibiotics is she on and for what reason? Has the vet ruled out all possible viruses??

Melissa

[Shaykeija]

We got Tyra in June. We started her on the program and that's the only thing different that she was exposed to. We gradually changed her over from Purina crap to DVP duck and potato. No problem there. Then things changed after we started the program. This is the third time with mooshy poops and blood. The vet put her on ID after a run of antibiotics. Everything seemed fine then the poops came back. Now she is on Hill's ID allergy formula and 1 week of APO-Sulfatrim. I called the vet and told him I wanted 2 months to get the program out of Tyra's system. He said fine. Tyra's immune system was not weakened until after the diet change and program treatment. This is so frustrating for all of us. Tyra has no vomiting or fever so the vet does not think it is a virus.

[dogmelissa]

What is "the program"? Do you mean Program, the flea killer?

Is there any possibility that she could be eating anything that you're not aware of; house plants, grass outdoors (which could be sprayed with pesticides), does she drink from the toilet ever (cleaning products residue)?

I'm sure that you've already considered all these things, but maybe there's one tiny piece of the puzzle that you're missing. Here's a website which may help: http://www.infovets.com/free/canine/...age=E/E155.htm

Has your vet done an endoscopy? Perhaps there's something like IBS or a tumor that won't show up without running a video through her.

Are you supplementing her with digestive enzymes? There's a possibility all the drugs she's been on in the last few weeks (months) have killed all the good bacteria in her gut, and she can't properly digest anything. Feed her a can of tripe (probably lamb tripe rather than beef) every day. See this site: http://www.tripett.com/index.html (It's one that I've seen at Pet Planet & Fairplay stores, where I get my pet food, there is also one by Solid Gold)

Have you read the ingredients of the Hill's ID? http://tinyurl.com/fq3z5 The first ingredient is corn. It also contains eggs. She may be allergic or sensitive to both or either of those ingredients. I'd highly recommend that you put her back on the DVP. Or you might want to try one of the varieties of the Hill's D/D (they have Duck - Canned, Lamb - Canned, Potato & Duck - Dry, Potato & Salmon - Dry, Potato & Venison - Dry, Rice & Egg - Dry, Salmon - Canned & Venison - Canned). Don't forget that when switching foods, it can take up to 8 weeks before anything they'd eaten previously that they were allergic to, to get out of their system. If Tyra is allergic to something in any of the foods she's eaten, even if you find a food which has a protein & carb she's never had, her symptoms may not respond immediately.
I'm not sure what symptoms may be if she's allergic or sensitive to something in the antibiotics, either, so I'd suggest that if there was no conclusive test that suggested she needed to be on antibiotics, that it might be doing her more harm that good.

I don't know if any of that helped... but I hope that you can find something that will help her soon. Huge hugs (for you as much as her), and wet kisses from Cube (for both of you!).

Good luck, and keep us posted.
Melissa